Improvement in the manufacture of steel



cheat atm- CHARLES MOTIER NES, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 102,146, dated April .19, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OI STEEL.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the name.

To whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,'-GHAnLns MOTIEB, N as, of York, in the county of York,and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Steel, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is based upon the application of electricity, in combination with the carbonizing process for the conversion into steel of pig-metal 'rningled with iron obtained from ore mixed and melted with the pig.

'By the process I produce a. superior qualityof steel, with much economy of time and labor. In making steelin accordance with my invention, I take pig-iron, such, for instance, as made by the process for which Letters Patent were granted me on the 16th November, 1869, or any other suitable pig-iron, and melt it in acupola or other'suitable furnace, with twenty per cent. (more-or less) of iron ore.

The composition of the ore I prefer to use is as follows;

Silica, 40.80.

Metallic iron, 86.07.

Alumina, 8.65.

Magnesia, a trace.

Phosphorus, 0.22..

{int otherores may be employed for the purpose.

place both the pig-metal and the ore i uto the' cnpola, together with coal sufficient to melt the same, and then turn on the blast.

Steel bars, connected with a galvanic battery of suitable power, say, a Groves battery of from six to ten cells, are inserted into the hearth of the cupoia, so as to be brought in contact with the melting lI'OL, through which a curren't of electricity is. thus caused to continuously pass.

The object of putting the ore and pig together into the cupola is to obtain the decarbonizing eii'ect of the ore upon' the pig-metal, which is most marked, and to this the electricity adds its action, which produces a disposition in the metal to crystalize, purify, and take a steely nature.

The metal is left in the cupola until sufficiently decarh'onized, which .is ascertained by tapping out a small quantity. If not sufiiciently decarbonized, more ore is put in.

-When the metal is decarhonized .or brought to nature, or nearly so, it is ready for the final treatment, whereby it is converted intofsteel, which is.- as ihllows:

. -After tapping off the cinder, which is done asiu ordinary blast-furnaces, I tap out the melted iron, and run it into a fire-brick chest or receptacle,

closed, so as to 'be practically air-tightand in this chest the metal is recarbonized by introducing can buretted hydrogen, -or other carbonizing gases. in the usual way, or, instead of this, I can efl'ect the ca-rbonization of the metal by throwing into the chest from five to ten per cent. of the pig-iron, made by the process for which Letters Patent were granted me, as above stated.

Wires'from the galvanic battery are inserted into the metal in the chest, so as to subject it to the action of a continuous electrical current,'the effect of which I have above mentioned, and it is my object, in all the manipulations of the metal from the beginning to close of the process, to maintain the connection between the battery and the melted metal.

Vhen the metal has been brought to proper condition, which can be ascertained in the usual way, I run it from the converting apparatus or chest into castiron or, other suitable molds.

Both thecupola'or other furnace in which the pig and ore are preliminarily melted, and the chest or receptacle, into which the melted metal is run for the purpose of carbonization, should be'insulatcd by means of glass or other insulating substance.

I am thusenabled to produce steel direct from ore mingled with the pig-iron in about the proportion above stated.

The use of electricity shortens the process, purifies the'iron,and gives a greatlyimproved-quality of steel.

If it be desired to produce a high steel, I place in a retort communicating with the chest, in which the melted metal is run, a carhonizing mixture, composed of, say, equal parts of marble-dust, charcoal, and pyroligueous acid.

I employ, for the purpose of driving into the chest the gases arising from the above compound,'a tweer, one end of which is inserted at the top of the boiler of the steanFengiue, .usually found at iron-works, and the other end into the retort.

The gases evolved by the action of the acid upui the charcoal and marble are thus blown, by the power of dry steam, into the metal and percolate every por- .tion of the melted mass, so that in thirty minutes I can produce from one to fiveetons of very fine steel.

It will be understood that the construction of the apparatus employed may be, greatly varied without departure from the principle of my invention,'aud that the carbouizing materials may be of any nature suitable for the purpose, and may be applied in any of the this specification before two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES MOTIER NES. Witnesses:

DANIEL H. LAWMASTER, Gno. A. Hnoxnnr. 

